Ocr. 2, 188;).] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



AN I1.LUSIRATED ^Jt^ 



MAGMINEofSQENCE^ 



PUINLY^QRDED EXACTLYDESCRIBED 



LONDON FEIDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1885 

 Contents of No. 205. 



The Philosophy of ClothinK. XVIII. The? New Telegraph Tariff. By 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CLOTHING. 



Bt "W. Mattiku Willums. 



HEADGEAR AND OLD FASHIONS. 



ON tlio philosophy of head-gear but little need be 

 said. " Man's bare back " is so exceptional, that it 

 has been regarded as a puzzle by some biologists ; but 

 when wo note that the position of the top of a man's 

 head is, relatively to absorption and radiation, the same 

 as that of a quadruped's back, the anomaly vanishes. 

 In both cases that part which has the greatest need for 

 such protection is the best protected naturally. 



Fii-st as regards radiation. Bodies radiate equally in 

 all directions, nevertheless, if a warm body shaped like 

 the trunk of an animal were placed on the ground on a 

 clear, cold night, it would not cool down equally on all 

 sides. If placed upright the head would soon be the 

 coolest. If lying on its side, the upper side correspond- 

 ing to the back of the animal would cool more rapidly 

 my other part. The reason of this is that aH bodii 





of th. 



.r.l.s 



of c 



s..,lto 



veil : 





nrth itself. Those parts 

 i-iil radiation would be 

 iilili([nely, it is true, as 

 (lie part presented to 



the clear sky would radiate inti. n\yxvi 

 little indeed in return; thercforr, the nitui-.il liciU-rctain 

 ing apparatus is most dem;iu(lcil (ui UkiI |i;mI cif tlic 

 animal which is subject to ix'riiriuliculai- ex |iosuii' /., ., 

 the top of the head of man and back of .luadnip.ds. 



But the hair does more than this. It mtv, s us a pni- 

 tection against the excessive heat of the direct solar ray.s. 

 These, coming from above, again demand the greater 

 supply of hair on the part which is perpendicularly ex- 

 posed. This demand is further increased by the fact 

 that the brain and the spine are the most delicate organs 

 of the body, and the most liable to serious injury from 

 excess of heat. In the recent Soudan expedition, where 

 our men were maliing roads and doing other work that 

 exposed the back to the direct r.vdi ition of a tropical sun, 

 they wore provided with special spino-protcctoi-fl. Many 

 thousands of lung })ads to be woru along the spine, and 



were m^de it t 

 highly bent fiei 



lu\uiiiuee, it lb c\ideut t 



given I can only exj less 



the mijoiity of those ^vh 



concur — mz , that whate\er fxshion of hi ad covermg is 



used, it should be as light and as porous as possible, and 



that even this should never be worn unnecessarily. 



I have observed that those who habitually wear warm 

 head-coverings indoors become prematurely bald. My 

 attention was first directed to this subject when working 

 in a laboratory as a student of analytical chemistry. It 

 was then, both in this country and Germany, a common 

 habit or practice for professors, their assistants and pupils, 

 to wear smoking-caps, or Kepis, or German burschen 

 caps, all of cloth, and many lined rather thickly, 

 some even padded with wool. I encountered a larger 

 percentage of prematurely bald heads among the pro- 

 fessors and their assistants than any other class. Subse- 

 quently, whenever I have my hair cut, I ascertain the 

 opinion of the artist on this subject, and have found a 

 near approach to unanimity among the most intelligent 

 of hairdressers concerning the injurious effect of keeping 

 the head too warm. They are perfectly unanimous as to 

 the " strengthening " eii'ect of keeping the hair cut 

 short, and, after all dnc allowance^ iov professional 

 interest.s, I have no doubt that they are right. 



The coolness thus obtained is doubtless an element in 

 this strengthening of the hair, and there may be in 

 addition an action analogous to that which induces 

 increaseel growth of the cuticle when it is abraded. 



It is said that the veteran chemist Chevreul, who has 

 now entered his hundredth year, never ^^ cars a hat of 

 any kind, iueloors or out of doors, unless conventionally 

 compelled to do so. In the August number of the 

 Popular Science Monthl(j is a portrait of this very grand 

 old man. One of its most striking — I may almost say 

 startling— features is the luxuriance of hair. 



One conclusion may be stated very positively — viz., 

 that no artificial head clothing is equal to tliat supplied 

 by nature, and therefore, if the artificial eloes damage to 

 the natural, away with the artificial ; throw up and away 

 your hats, and cry " Vive Chevreul et chevelure ! " T 

 have acted on this principle for many years, never wea)- 

 a hat in my own garden, or anywhere else where I am 

 free, as a protection against cold or rain ; only against 

 llie .scercliiiP,' r.iys ef (he sutamer sun, then a light straw 

 hal uitli til.' liiiiiii^'rlpiiea ,.ut ; and have never taken cold 



Th 



i(y , 





ith he; 



nnge 



and in 



,1,11, IS u,ll ^1io;m, 1,v ihe boys of 

 ■.1 ,'l,arlt.\ f.an.laii,.,,". the London 

 here the sens uf well-to-do and even 

 ef whom denounce as pauperising 



il to give free education to the poor) 

 clothed, and fed. These boys have 



eil, nrnl are only allowed very scanty 



■<li',,«,i m so lar-e a nui.ilur by the 

 'orm of consequent disease among 

 1 something about eunstroke, but 



